AIBO: LATTE and MACARON

Share.

By M. Wiley

On May 31, 1999 the first-generation AIBO went on sale at the Sony Japan website. The Japanese run of 3,000 units sold out in 20 minutes, not bad for a $2,000.00 artificial pet. This phenomenon earned the pooch a much-coveted spot in the Guinness Book of World Records as the Fastest Selling Robot Bet in history. The 2,000 AIBOs allotted to the US market were scooped up in a scant four days.

Sony was armed to the teeth when they released the second-generation AIBO in November 1999: 10,000 units slotted for a simultaneous worldwide launch. 135,000 applications for adoption poured into Sony over the next ten days. 10,000 lucky owners were selected in a random drawing.

On October 1,2001 Sony began taking reservations for the next iterations of their robot pal: LATTE (ERS-311) and MACARON (ERS-312). Delivery will begin, and retail purchase will be available, on October 27, 2001. With a suggested retail price of $850.00, these dogs will be the most affordable AIBOs ever. If you are so inclined, you can order your's here.

Sony is plainly aiming the new AIBOs at a much more mainstream audience. The early models had a much more high-tech, robotic look about them. Rounded and friendly looking, LATTE and MACARON are much cuter than their predecessors were. I think they're adorable, but one IGN editor thought the new look was downright creepy.

Katsura Moshino designed everything from the dogs themselves to the beautiful software packaging. A well-known visual designer, Moshino has worked on everything from album covers and videos to Nike billboard campaigns. Sony made an excellent choice with Moshino, whose revamped AIBO aesthetic is stunning.

Sony also switched to a non-alphanumeric name for the first time. ERS-311/12 doesn't exactly roll off the tongue. LATTE (espresso with hot or streamed milk) and MACARON (a misspelled and mispronounced version of "macaroon," which is a small cookie made primarily of egg whites and sugar and flavored with almond or coconut) are much more endearing.

In addition to human speech, AIBO has a variety of tonal and movement-based communication options at its disposal, the most striking of which is AIBO Melody. Basically a theremin ¿ an electronic musical instrument that produces tones based on hand movements around an electrode, as in Good Vibrations by The Beach Boys ¿ AIBO Melody lets users generate sound by moving their hands around AIBO's nose. Theremins are fairly obscure contraptions, but are extremely fun to play. Kudos to Sony for including such a strange feature.

The Mimic Mode enables AIBO to repeat human speech in a tonal animalistic language. I didn't get to hear it while I the AIBOs were here in the office, but it seems that the repeated sounds will resemble Scooby-Doo's speech.

LATTE and MACARON will both be able to communicate with older AIBOs, who didn't have speech recognition but were rather controlled through tones generated by a small remote control.

Lastly, you can sing simple passages and have AIBO hum them back to you - do re me style.

LATTE and MACARON are outfitted with impressive video modes as well. A digital still camera is mounted in AIBO's mouth and can capture stills at 640 x 480 resolution. While this modest resolution won't produce top-quality images, the camera is a gun feature. You can also set up AIBO as a watchdog of sort with its motion capture function. In this mode AIBO will automatically snap a shot when it detects motion with its IR sensor.

Images and sounds are stored on a Memory Stick, which fits into a small compartment on AIBO's belly. The unit, naturally, doesn't ship with a card, but they are readily available wherever Sony products are sold. You can use the Memory Stick to transfer images from, say, AIBO to your Sony digital camera.

Though the flashing LED "eyes" are gone, AIBO can express emotions - joy, sadness, anger, surprise, fear, and discontent - with a three-colored light atop his/her head. The light flashes varying degrees of red, green, or blue to express feelings. These feelings work in conjunction with AIBO's instincts ¿ love, explore, sleep, hunger, and eat (charge) ¿ and owner involvement in order to help him/her "learn."

Movement is achieved by means of fifteen motors: three in the neck and three in each of the legs. There is no longer a tail motor, but it is still an active part of AIBO's anatomy. You can use it to enter certain modes and to scold/praise AIBO: a quick flick registers as punishment while a circular motion registers approval.

As far as learning, there are different software options available. I am not sure which packages will be available eventually, but there will be two at launch. You can slip in a Stick and have a grown-up pooch (AIBO Pal) or let it develop by itself with a learning program (AIBO Life).

AIBO ships with a charging stand, and AC adapter, a Lithium-Ion battery, the manual, and AIBO's trademark pink ball.

The really lucky AIBO owners are in Japan, where a new anime series will launch with AIBO's release. The start of the show is LATTE and MACARON plays a minor role. The show will play special tones at certain times that will elicit reactions from AIBO, so you can really sit down and watch TV with your little buddy. Unfortunately, there are no plans for any such TV show outside of Japan.

Granted, $850.00 is a lot of money to drop on a pet/toy. However, I think AIBO's level of sophistication, not to mention the undeniable wow factor, justifies the price. And if you are considering bringing LATTE or MACARON into your life, you needn't worry about the well running dry: The production runs are not limited this time around.